Today's text can be read here: 1Cor 3:16-23.
Temples enjoyed a special status throughout the ancient world. Worshipers gave both money (silver and gold) as well as valuable objects and produce (wheat, barley, fruits) to the temples of their gods, and the state (i.e., the king or emperor) could not tax or appropriate any of this. The land that the temples stood on was not subject to any tax by the government. And anyone who stole anything from a temple was severely punished, often by death.
All of this falls under the term "sacred" (Greek hagios, Latin sanctum, Hebrew qadosh), a term which Paul himself uses in verse 16-17: "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred (hagios), and you are that temple."
Here is something important to note: Although all pagan religions had temples in which their gods lived and were worshiped, and even the ancient Israelites had a temple in Jerusalem in which God's presence was supposed to be centered, believers in Jesus had a new temple that was not located in one geographical place, nor was it made of stone and wood and susceptible to destruction. The temple of God for Christians is the bodies of all believers. God—through the Holy Spirit—has taken up his residence in each and all of us. I say "each and all", because God does not have billions of temples, one in each believer. He has one temple, of which each believer is a part. The temple is only complete through the invisible unity of all Christians everywhere and in all history. In part, this is what we mean when in the Apostles Creed we confess that "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (i.e., universal in time and place) church, the communion (i.e., unity) of saints (i.e., believers)". The sequence of these three clauses is significant. For it is the HOly Spirit dwelling in each believer that makes up the universal and omni-temporal single Body of Christ, which in the creed is called "the holy, universal (this is the meaning of "catholic") church". And this Holy Spirit-created universal church permits the "communion" (i.e., shared unity) of all believers.
But why does Paul bring this subject up, right in the middle of admonishing the Corinthian believers about their disunity and glorifying of individual leaders? It is because we are a unified temple of God, created by the Holy Spirit, not by men, that we must not create divisions among ourselves based upon human leaders.
Of course, throughout the history of the church divisions have in fact occurred. First, there is the division between the Protestant groups and the Roman Catholic Church. This was not a matter of preferring one human leader over another, but was inevitable because of a different view of the nature and method of salvation and a different view of the final authoritative source of doctrine.
But organizational divisions within Protestantism occurred because of differences of belief on less crucial doctrines: whether or not one should baptize infants, whether or not local churches should be governed by a higher hierarchy of bishops and archbishops, etc., etc. It isn't my purpose here to digress into these matters.
It is food for thought to what extent, if Paul were alive today, he would scold the church for such internal organizational divisions. What is of more immediate concern is how believers behave toward each other in their individual local churches. Do they squabble constantly? Do they respect their leaders? Do the leaders act high-handedly or take into account the different opinions of members? And above all, is there a spirit of love and mutual respect in the congregations?
All of this right behavior should be founded in clear teaching of the membership about their status as co-members of the Body of Christ, the Temple of God.
This inseparable unity of the Corinthian believers is not lost sight of, when Paul goes on to exhort them in verses 18-23. For the word translated "you" (Greek humeis) in all of these verses is plural, i.e., "you all", or "you as a group". So when Paul writes "Do not deceive yourselves" in verse 18, he is also saying "Do not deceive each other." And in verse 21-23, where he writes "So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God," the "all things" do not belong just to individuals in the Corinthian congregation, but to them all jointly. Paul doesn't belong just to the "I follow Paul" group, but to the whole group jointly. And in verse 23 what belongs to Christ is not just a bunch of individuals, but a unified group of believers, joined in one as a temple and a body. This concept excludes the boasting "I belong to Christ," as one group within the Corinthian group had boasted. Either we all belong to him, or no one of us does!
So when you sit in church on Sunday morning or evening, look around you. All these people are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask yourself how you can treat them with friendliness, intimate concern for their needs, and respect. And when you sing and confess creeds during the service, or say "Amen" to something stirring that the pastor says in the sermon, feel yourself joined in spirit to all present. Then as you leave the sanctuary to return home, remind yourself that, even when you are not sitting in the same room, these people are your brothers and sisters, closer than any blood relative. Think of them during the week; pray for them; visit them if you have opportunity.
The solution to the Corinthian church's problems was not just to stop the divisive talk: it was to replace it with its opposite—the talk of brothers and sisters in one family of faith.
Temples enjoyed a special status throughout the ancient world. Worshipers gave both money (silver and gold) as well as valuable objects and produce (wheat, barley, fruits) to the temples of their gods, and the state (i.e., the king or emperor) could not tax or appropriate any of this. The land that the temples stood on was not subject to any tax by the government. And anyone who stole anything from a temple was severely punished, often by death.
All of this falls under the term "sacred" (Greek hagios, Latin sanctum, Hebrew qadosh), a term which Paul himself uses in verse 16-17: "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred (hagios), and you are that temple."
Here is something important to note: Although all pagan religions had temples in which their gods lived and were worshiped, and even the ancient Israelites had a temple in Jerusalem in which God's presence was supposed to be centered, believers in Jesus had a new temple that was not located in one geographical place, nor was it made of stone and wood and susceptible to destruction. The temple of God for Christians is the bodies of all believers. God—through the Holy Spirit—has taken up his residence in each and all of us. I say "each and all", because God does not have billions of temples, one in each believer. He has one temple, of which each believer is a part. The temple is only complete through the invisible unity of all Christians everywhere and in all history. In part, this is what we mean when in the Apostles Creed we confess that "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (i.e., universal in time and place) church, the communion (i.e., unity) of saints (i.e., believers)". The sequence of these three clauses is significant. For it is the HOly Spirit dwelling in each believer that makes up the universal and omni-temporal single Body of Christ, which in the creed is called "the holy, universal (this is the meaning of "catholic") church". And this Holy Spirit-created universal church permits the "communion" (i.e., shared unity) of all believers.
But why does Paul bring this subject up, right in the middle of admonishing the Corinthian believers about their disunity and glorifying of individual leaders? It is because we are a unified temple of God, created by the Holy Spirit, not by men, that we must not create divisions among ourselves based upon human leaders.
Of course, throughout the history of the church divisions have in fact occurred. First, there is the division between the Protestant groups and the Roman Catholic Church. This was not a matter of preferring one human leader over another, but was inevitable because of a different view of the nature and method of salvation and a different view of the final authoritative source of doctrine.
But organizational divisions within Protestantism occurred because of differences of belief on less crucial doctrines: whether or not one should baptize infants, whether or not local churches should be governed by a higher hierarchy of bishops and archbishops, etc., etc. It isn't my purpose here to digress into these matters.
It is food for thought to what extent, if Paul were alive today, he would scold the church for such internal organizational divisions. What is of more immediate concern is how believers behave toward each other in their individual local churches. Do they squabble constantly? Do they respect their leaders? Do the leaders act high-handedly or take into account the different opinions of members? And above all, is there a spirit of love and mutual respect in the congregations?
All of this right behavior should be founded in clear teaching of the membership about their status as co-members of the Body of Christ, the Temple of God.
This inseparable unity of the Corinthian believers is not lost sight of, when Paul goes on to exhort them in verses 18-23. For the word translated "you" (Greek humeis) in all of these verses is plural, i.e., "you all", or "you as a group". So when Paul writes "Do not deceive yourselves" in verse 18, he is also saying "Do not deceive each other." And in verse 21-23, where he writes "So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God," the "all things" do not belong just to individuals in the Corinthian congregation, but to them all jointly. Paul doesn't belong just to the "I follow Paul" group, but to the whole group jointly. And in verse 23 what belongs to Christ is not just a bunch of individuals, but a unified group of believers, joined in one as a temple and a body. This concept excludes the boasting "I belong to Christ," as one group within the Corinthian group had boasted. Either we all belong to him, or no one of us does!
So when you sit in church on Sunday morning or evening, look around you. All these people are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask yourself how you can treat them with friendliness, intimate concern for their needs, and respect. And when you sing and confess creeds during the service, or say "Amen" to something stirring that the pastor says in the sermon, feel yourself joined in spirit to all present. Then as you leave the sanctuary to return home, remind yourself that, even when you are not sitting in the same room, these people are your brothers and sisters, closer than any blood relative. Think of them during the week; pray for them; visit them if you have opportunity.
The solution to the Corinthian church's problems was not just to stop the divisive talk: it was to replace it with its opposite—the talk of brothers and sisters in one family of faith.
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